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What are you reading now? vers. "So I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress"

Yay. Finally.

I'm reading Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee and it's holding my attention. More than that, I'm really liking it. For a few reasons I've been struggling recently with dedicating my time and energy to a book but I think I've found exactly what I need.

I'd read a bit about Disgrace before I bought it. It's won a Booker and a Nobel prize, so I guess that was unavoidable, but in a lot of ways I wish I hadn't. It's set in South Africa and is about a university professor who makes a seemingly stupid choice and what happens to him after that catalyst.

I'm only halfway through, and I know I haven't read the most dramatic parts yet, but so far I feel like I completely understand him. He's a twice divorced university lecturer whose internal monologue is sometimes scarily similar to mine (you know, because of my two divorces and university education...) but the initial mistake he makes is so fundamental, so ridiculous, that I can absolutely relate to this restrained lashing out at society.

Coetzee's writing is really beautiful. He seems to have such an empathetic view of humanity as well as a really honest understanding of our biggest flaws and weaknesses. I love when a writer writes like that. It's the reason I keep reading.

So thanks for getting me back in the game, J. M.
 
Just finished Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence and found myself pretty profoundly moved by it. Certainly gave me some things to think about.

Going to start reading The Burnt Ones now by Patrick White.
 
Unsq-Persist with The Historian, is a good tale.
American God's is tops too.

I just finished a semi-fictional biography by Michael Ondjaate, describing his family and upbringing in Ceylon. Awesome, amusing and uplifting and depressing simultaneously.

Norwegian Wood by Murakami, his style inserts magical into the mundane.
 
I'm reading The Good Mayor by Andrew Nicoll. It is so charming, I just love it. I look forward to reading it every night and I'm intentionally reading it slowly to savour it.
 
This week it's On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I've read a couple of his books and find him really hit and miss (Enduring Love was such a waste of time) but this one has been excellent so far. It's set in England in the early 60s and starts at the beginning of a young couple's honeymoon. Even when he's bad, McEwan is a master at building emotional tension in his characters and scenes. It's actually amazing to read, because I honestly can't work out what he does that is so different to other writers. There are always these dark undercurrents pulling you into and through the story - it's almost sinister. It makes for really enjoyable reading though. It's quite short at 200 pages, and so while the writing is impressive, I'm assuming it's the ending that's going to determine whether this book will feel like another McEwan waste of time or one of the best books I've read this year. It's not often I feel that way about a book.
 
I've been reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac it's a story about a guy in the 40's who just leaves new york in the 30s/40s and just lives on the road with like $10, he wrote the book in 10days whilst on a speed high. It's a classic, like seriously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road

let me also say he wrote on one huge peice of parchment, check the scroll in the link. he must of been peaking.. but its a good novel, gonzo journalism ftw.
 
I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick
Picked it up for 9.95 in the chuck out bin in a cheap booksotore while waiting for my lunch yesterday.
Can't say much about it really, just started, but the guy's interesting enough to read about for sure.

EDIT - Sykik, on the road is my all time favourite book. I think I've read it about 5 or 6 times. One of the few books that I can still escape into every time i read it and it never gets old.
 
Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte which started off heaps of fun and is a little more depressing now but still great and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens which has yet to really grab me.
 
Yep, On The Road is one of my all time favourites as well.

The ending to Chesil Beach was devastating. Do not read if you're the kind of person who constantly wonders, 'what if...' Broke my heart.

I'm now reading Little Birds by Anais Nin. Don't read this if you haven't had sex in a while. I was reading it on the train today and trying to hide the cover because I felt like people would think I was a dirty pervert. There is no deeper meaning here, it's pure erotica. Thoroughly enjoyable. :D
 
i finally got Scar Tissue...

im about half way through it...

its an interesting read... and hopefully gets a lot more interesting...
 
I'm reading a fair fewbooks at the moment

The Power of now
The art of happiness
Women who love too much (it unfortunately resonates so deeply for me)

and i've read about 9 of Jodi Picoult (shes fantastic but kinda sameisg story lines, still a good read though) My sisters keeper was by far the best... cried like a baby at the end of it
 
After having it sitting on my bookshelf for a year and a half, I'm making a start on Fidel Castro's memoirs. Quite a weighty tome but very interesting.
 
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